j6b1R TIL that some plants have convergently evolved cardenolides, used as a chemical defense mechanism against herbivores
0dxRA TIL "La Catrina" - a skeleton that is the icon of the Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) - was originally known as Calavera Garbancera. José Guadalupe Posada, the engraver, illustrated her in ostentatious attire to satirize the way the "garbanceras" attempted to pass as upper-class.
grbPX TIL that in the 1700s, a Swedish king had his pet lion stuffed after it died but the taxidermist had never seen a lion before, so the result was hilariously inaccurate. The lion is still on display at Gripsholm Castle in Sweden.
LQG60 TIL that after US independence, New Jersey passed a law forbidding lawyers from citing any English law case decided after July 4, 1776 or any English legal textbook, to break free from English legal influence
b6blZ TIL: In 2013, a student at the Florida State University (Panama City campus) managed to hack the school's free WiFi network and promptly redirected everyone to metspn.com
QN5Ek TIL that China's soil lacks selenium, a mineral crucial for horse strength and breeding. Because of this, the Zhou were able to form a dynasty by buying warhorses from selenium-rich Mongolia, which enriched both, but this same imbalance posed a dire threat whenever tensions with Mongolia arose.
ANB0a TIL Christ Pike who in 1996 was the youngest women to ever be sentenced to death attempted to murder a fellow inmate in 2001 with a shoelace and in 2012 an escape plan was discovered that was plotted by a pen pal boyfriend of hers who had been driving from New jersey to Tennessee to visit her.
yV95e Today i learned, anus removal is a challenging medical condition
m1blY TIL in pre-Islamic Arabia two cousin tribes went to war with each other when a tribe leader killed a she-camel belonging to the other which in turn caused him to be assassinated. It lasted 40 years and is estimated to have killed thousands.
DQkge TIL sailing ships around Iberia have been the subject of coordinated Orca attacks beginning in 2020.
vPxXR TIL that Radiohead’s ‘Creep’ was copied from ‘The Air That I Breathe’ by the Hollies.
J1o61 TIL - Fort Greely, the missile base in 'House of Dynamite' is named for the leader of a tragic Arctic expedition.